Climb Summary

This mountain pass in the Alps in the Haute-Savoie department links two ski towns, Morzine and Samoëns. Samoëns carries the designation of “ville fleurie”, which distinguishes it as an attractive tourist destination. Morzine is a ski resort town of approximately 2,900 occupants that has hosted Tour de France stage finishes.

Ville Fleurie - Samoëns

TOUR DE FRANCE HISTORY

2016 - the last time Joux Plane was featured in the TdF(as of 2019)

Col de Joux Plane has been featured in the Tour de France 12 times since 1978 (twice in 1981 - stages 17 and 18), but only once (2016) since 2006. Since it came to the tour late, none of the older legends and grainy black and white photographs of earlier days of the Tour (iconic photos of Coppi/Bartali on Galibier, Octave Lapize “assassins” on Tourmalet, etc.) exist. There is only modern Tour “history” for this wonderful col.

The first man over Col de Joux Plane in a Tour de France race was Christian Seznec (The Jailer) on July 18, 1978, stage 17 in 7:13:34, an amazing 09:26 ahead of #2 Paul Wellens and 09:29 ahead of the incomparable Bernard Hinault who went on to win his first of five TdF championships in 108:18:02, 3 minutes 56 seconds in front of the Netherlands Joop Zoetemelk.